Cultivation begins with alchemy and collecting runes.

"We're being watched!"

If Li Xiuyuan hadn't possessed a powerful enough divine sense, achieved great success in body refinement, and had keen senses, he would have almost overlooked the markings on the spirit stone.

He had been cautious enough these past few days and believed he had made no mistakes.

Li Xiuyuan's expression shifted between light and shadow as he repeatedly pondered his actions, wondering which step had revealed his true nature.

Or perhaps he was disguised and kidnapped, becoming easy prey.

Or perhaps he was just unlucky and happened to be targeted by someone.

Or perhaps some shops are making a profit from both ends.

He looked down at his storage bag.

He had heard that some cultivators kept spirit beasts to track the treasures or aged spiritual herbs inside their storage bags.

"Fine, this trip to sell the stolen goods will provide me with enough for many years to live on."

Li Xiuyuan planned to go out and collect the spiritual herbs for cultivating the [Golden Flame Burning Heaven Technique] before leaving immediately.

He heard that there were underground black market channels in the market, which would be more suitable for him to sell stolen goods.

"The black market is a place where shady dealings happen, it's shady, and the risks are greater than the methods themselves, so you can't go there."

Li Xiuyuan shook his head.

He doesn't plan to go to the black market.

He won't touch it until he's strong enough to protect himself.

Who knows if there are Foundation Establishment cultivators who are pretending to be weak while actually being strong?

……

A few days later, Li Xiuyuan, dressed in disguise, bought five hundred spirit stones worth of first-grade fire-type spiritual materials from the Spirit Medicine Hall and left from the east side of the market.

He had just flown thirty miles out of the market on his sword.

Li Xiuyuan suddenly felt a divine sense watching him from behind, and a sinister and cold aura probing him.

He quickly landed in a grove of trees.

Hold your breath and concentrate, then quickly project your consciousness outward.

He then released the Migu Rat and the Two-Winged Frost Centipede from the Spirit Beast Pouch to guard the surroundings.

"It was him!"

Li Xiuyuan's face showed surprise. His fully refined spiritual sense detected an elderly man in his sixties with an eighth-level Qi Refining cultivation. He was wearing a snake-head mask on his face.

This person is the manager of "Bai Cao Tang".

Li Xiuyuan disguised himself several times to buy spiritual herbs from the other party.

"I don't have many years left to live, and you seduced me."

"It's all your fault. You've come to my shop to buy goods time and time again. Those shiny white spirit stones are really tempting..."

The manager of Baicaotang made a hand seal with one hand and summoned a red flying insect with the other, which was staring at Li Xiuyuan's hiding place.

This insect can sense the precious, aged medicinal herbs in a cultivator's storage bag.

"Hmph! You've got some nerve!"

It was as if a thunderbolt had struck the old man's ear.

The manager of Baicaotang was ashen-faced and completely lost his composure.

The next moment, the flying insect in his hand buzzed and burst open, bleeding profusely.

He was killed by the power of divine consciousness.

"Oh no, we've bitten off more than we can chew!"

The manager of Baicaotang was terrified and immediately put his Blood Burning Secret Technique into practice, unleashing three high-grade Swiftness Talismans in quick succession, fleeing towards the market at a speed far exceeding that of a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator.

"Hmph, trying to escape? Don't you think it's too late?"

But then a golden flying sword flew out from the bushes in a flash.

Dozens of crimson sword shadows, accompanied by crimson light, swept past.

Just as I was about to dodge, dozens of earth spikes suddenly flew out from behind me and burst from the ground, closing in on my escape route.

Dozens more frost arrows flew, cutting off their escape route.

He was opening his storage bag and using a defensive magic artifact to protect himself.

The next moment, the crimson sword light swept across his entire body.

"Pfft!"

The owner of Baicaotang, who had just used his secret technique, stared wide-eyed and fell straight to the ground.

He died.

……

"The Sword Shadow Splitting Light Technique truly lives up to its reputation as one of the top sword techniques. When combined with the [Crimson Flame Mystic Light], it can kill a Qi Refining Stage 8 expert in one move. It is truly domineering."

Li Xiuyuan picked up the storage bag of the Baicaotang shopkeeper and also took off the spirit beast bag from his waist.

He casually fired a ball of crimson fire, destroying the body and erasing all traces.

They captured the spirit pet, mounted their flying sword, and quickly fled the scene.

Seven days later.

Li Xiuyuan returned to his cave in Black Wind City.

Li Xiuyuan opened the storage bag containing the spoils of his trip after breaking the cave's protective barrier.

"Wow, this guy's probably a seasoned cultivator!"

Opening the storage bag, the table was soon filled with magical artifacts, pills, talismans, and other miscellaneous items.

There were even quite a few women's private clothes, some glamorous, some seductive, some fresh, and some dignified, which was quite a feast for Li Xiuyuan's eyes.

Soon, Li Xiuyuan's expression turned serious, and he threw out a fireball, burning them to ashes.

The owner of Baicaotang is truly wealthy; he possesses three mid-grade magic artifacts, which are both offensive and defensive.

There was even a high-grade defensive magic artifact jade pendant, and a high-grade magic artifact longsword, the Blood Slaughter Blade.

When fully activated, the jade pendant can withstand a spell attack that lasts for the duration of an incense stick when the Qi is fully refined.

The Blood Butcher's Blade was no less powerful than the Golden Light Sword in his hand.

There were two thousand spirit stones, more than Li Xiuyuan had.

What captivated him most was that this person possessed a two-hundred-year-old Beast Spirit Grass.

This item is extremely beneficial for awakening the intelligence of demonic beasts and transforming their bloodline, making it an excellent beast-taming spiritual object.

There is also a first-tier superior defensive formation: the Green Wood Vine Armor Formation.

The formation was activated, gathering the spiritual energy of wood, and the restriction transformed into a green vine armor, which had extremely strong defensive capabilities and also had a slight concealment effect.

With insufficient spiritual strength and cultivation level to reach the late stage of Qi Refining, one cannot see through the internal structure of the formation, let alone break through its restrictions.

They could only be entangled by vines and pierced by thorns, trapped and dying inside.

The total value exceeds three thousand spirit stones; it is truly a windfall.

"The shopkeeper who runs a business selling spiritual herbs is very wealthy. No one in the entire market is richer than him except for Foundation Establishment cultivators."

Li Xiuyuan found a secret technique for controlling spirit insects in a pile of junk: the True Scripture of Taming Beasts of Ten Thousand Spirits.

It is said to be a unique secret technique of the Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain in the Qin State.

The Qin Kingdom has three major sects, with the Demon Flame Sect being the most powerful.

It boasts five Golden Core cultivators, followed by the Joyful Union Sect and the Beast Taming Sect.

It is said that the Demon Flame Sect and the Blazing Fire Sect were descendants of the same Nascent Soul sect that specialized in fire magic ten thousand years ago.

Therefore, the two sects were enemies and fought against each other for thousands of years.

The Hehuan Sect primarily cultivates the dual cultivation of Yin and Yang, and has extensive connections and friendships among the various kingdoms of the Northern Region.

Because its sect specializes in the Yin-Yang Dao and extensively harvests the essence of cultivators to refine cauldrons, it is also known as the Joyful Union Demon Sect.

The Beast Taming Sect is both righteous and evil, and is keen on capturing and cultivating all kinds of strange insects and poisonous gu, using the insect swarms as combat power.

Disciples of the sect are selected from a young age to be ferocious beasts and strange insects, which are fed to them day and night with their essence and blood, and are thus linked to the lives of the cultivators.

Most disciples of the Beast Taming Sect possess spiritual senses far exceeding those of their peers; otherwise, they would be unable to control thousands upon thousands of insect swarms or ferocious beasts to fight against enemies.

Their skill lies in outnumbering the enemy, making them extremely difficult to deal with. If their spirit pets reach a high level of mastery, they are virtually invincible among their peers.

Li Xiuyuan picked up the piece of paper that recorded the cultivation techniques and insights of the owner of Baicaotang.

"This jade slip contains his lifelong experience in cultivating rare insects."

The jade slip also introduced thousands of strange insects that Li Xiuyuan had never heard of before, as well as secret methods for breeding, advancing, controlling, and swarming.

And the "Blood Spirit Contract" and "Ten Thousand Insect Spirit Guide," which bind spirit insects with essence blood, divine sense, and soul power.

Li Xiuyuan read carefully and gradually became obsessed with the various secret methods of controlling insects and beasts.

"To control spirit insects and ride spirit beasts, one can rely on restrictions such as blood pacts, soul tablets, and beast rings, or use divine sense to forcefully control them, or use spirit medicine to prepare specific 'spirit-feeding pills' to enhance the connection."

"Once a spirit insect or demon beast recognizes its master and places a restriction on him, it will never betray him and will remain loyal to him for life, unless the master dies, the restriction is broken, or the insect or beast evolves and transforms itself."

Li Xiuyuan picked up the spirit beast bag of the Beast Taming Sect cultivator, inside which dozens of strange flying insects fiercely resisted.

It seemed to sense its master's death and wanted to break through the restrictions to seek freedom.

Li Xiuyuan originally intended to forcibly subdue the group of sound-tracking spirit insects, but after reading the experience summary of the Beast Taming Sect cultivators, he abandoned the idea.

The reason is simple: once a spirit beast or spirit insect recognizes its master, it cannot be made to betray its master.

We can only start cultivating them from the eggs after a large number of spirit insects have laid their eggs.

The spirit insects obtained in this way have high cultivation value and are extremely easy to control.

He glanced at the insect egg with lightning-like purple stripes beside him and exclaimed in surprise, "A Purple Lightning Swallowtail Butterfly with the bloodline of an ancient true spirit!"

This Purple Lightning Swallowtail butterfly ranks eighth on the list of ancient and wondrous insects.

It is a rare species with the bloodline of a true phoenix, possessing the origin of lightning and spatial supernatural powers.

It is extremely rare in the world and cannot be compared to ordinary spirit insects.

He examined the viability of the Purple Lightning Swallowtail butterfly eggs and directly placed ten unhatched eggs inside.

Following the insect control seal, he spat out a mouthful of blood essence and made complex hand gestures.

Using divine thought and one's own essence as a seal, one can use the power of divine consciousness to subdue them.

"These insect eggs are truly domineering. Even with my essence blood combined with the 'True Beast Taming Technique,' I still couldn't suppress them. I really don't know where this person found them."

"With the insect control seal, the Purple Lightning Swallowtail Butterfly and the Six-Winged Frost Centipede Egg have formed a soul contract deep within their souls, so there's no fear of them turning against us."

Li Xiuyuan's face was pale, clearly due to the loss of two drops of essence and blood, resulting in a deficiency of vital energy.

Fortunately, he had mastered body refinement, and his body continuously produced primordial essence blood, allowing him to recover completely in just seven days.

"Once I reach the Foundation Establishment stage, I will be able to independently open a cave within the sect. Following the instructions in this Beast Taming True Technique, I will be able to open an insect-taming chamber. No matter how long the nurturing time is, with the power of runes, I will definitely be able to nurture it."

Li Xiuyuan pondered, he had never heard of the Rainbow Grass, the best spiritual material for cultivating spiritual beasts and insects.

He needs to speed up his cultivation so that he can access more secret information about the cultivation world once he reaches the Foundation Establishment stage.

What's giving him a real headache right now is that the Qin Kingdom's Beast Taming Sect's spies have actually infiltrated the heart of the Blazing Fire Sect.

"Countless cultivators perished in this great battle."

"I need to speed up my cultivation. Nearly two thousand spirit stones are enough for me to cultivate for several years."

Li Xiuyuan sighed, put away the spirit stones, magical artifacts, and talismans on the table, and prepared to go into seclusion for cultivation.